Muluken Goftishu
Haramaya University, Ethiopia
Title: Host-associated genetic differentiation in Sesamia cretica Lederer (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) as determined from mtDNA sequence data
Biography
Biography: Muluken Goftishu
Abstract
The stem borer, Sesamia cretica, is an important pest of Sorghum, maize and sugarcane plants in Northeast Africa, the Middle East and Mediterranean Europe. In Ethiopia, the pest was detected for the first time in 2014 from sugarcane. To evaluate the source of the invading pest populations, a study on genetic relation of the Ethiopian population of S. cretica and populations in Africa and Asia were compared using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cytochrome oxidase I (COI). Molecular analysis revealed that the genetic variation recorded among S. cretica populations corresponding to host-plant differentiation rather than geographic regions. Significant genetic differentiation (FST=0.442; P<0.001) was found among Ethiopian populations of S. cretica collected from sugarcane and Afro-Asian populations recovered from Sorghum. This variation was further supported by the phylogenetic tree and haplotype networking which alienated the population of S. cretica into two clades based on host plants. These results suggest the influence of host plants on the genetic differentiation of S. cretica and also aid in tracking the source of pest populations that invaded sugarcane plantations in Ethiopia. Furthermore, the implications of these findings for pest management are discussed.